Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher who lived from 1788 to 1860. He is best known for his 1818 work "The World as Will and Representation," which presented a pessimistic worldview and characterized the phenomenal world as the manifestation of a blind, irrational will. Schopenhauer's philosophy had a significant influence on later thinkers and artists, particularly in the areas of aesthetics, morality, and psychology.